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Spain shirt sent into space

MADRID - A Spanish national team shirt was attached to a balloon and launched 33 kilometres up into the atmosphere to celebrate their first qualification for a World Cup final.

Published

10 July 2010

The Spanish company Zero 2 Infinity were moved to celebrate Wednesday's 1-0 semi-final victory over Germany and honoured the achievement at the 14th European Balloon Festival in the Spanish town of Igualada the day after.

"It wasn't planned (to send a shirt) at first, but after the victory over Germany we had space for a bit more weight on our test flight and I thought it would be appropriate," founder and CEO of the company Jose Mariano Lopez Urdiales told Reuters by telephone on Saturday.

"I went out to buy a shirt but couldn't find one because they were all sold out. I had to buy it off a guy in the street who needed some convincing. I had to show him some photos of what we did."

A photo from Thursday's flight, with the shirt suspended above the earth, was posted on the company's website.

Zero to Infinity was set up one and a half years ago and is developing balloons with the aim of being able to take people up to get a view of the earth from the edge of space.

They see it as a cheaper and less environmentally damaging alternative to rocket travel and hope to complete a manned trip by 2015.